Student from Grand Rapids among latest Rhodes scholars

21-year-old credits family, educators in aiding success.

21-year-old credits family, educators in aiding success.

November 22, 2005

GRAND RAPIDS (AP) -- A college student from Michigan is among the 32 students from across the United States selected as Rhodes Scholars for 2006, the scholarship trust announced. Noorain F. Khan, 21, of Grand Rapids, is a senior at Rice University in Texas, where she is writing her thesis on issues relating to the veiling of Muslim women and is an active campus leader, the trust said. The scholars, selected from 903 applicants who were endorsed by 333 colleges and universities, will enter Oxford University in England next October. The scholarships are the oldest of the international study awards available to American students and provide two or three years of study at Oxford. "I haven't fully comprehended all of it," Khan said in a telephone interview, "but the graduate study is really going to help me in the long term." She said pursuing a master of philosophy or doctor of philosophy degree in migration studies at Oxford will prepare her for her goal of working to mobilize many marginalized communities -- not just Muslims. "Having the background in whatever program I choose at Oxford will help me have the academic background I need," she said. Khan has interned at the Middle East Institute and Amnesty International, the Rhodes Trust said, and she has been recognized as one of the top ten Girl Scouts in America for Muslim community organizing. She is fluent in Urdu and Hindi and speaks Spanish, Arabic, Pushto and Farsi. Her research on the veiling of immigrant women from Pakistan has taken her from Houston's Muslim community near the Rice campus to Pakistan, where she recently traveled for additional field work. Khan said her research hits close to home. Her parents, Umbreen and Shaukat Khan, were born in Pakistan. "Being the daughter of immigrants, I feel like I have a personal and an academic vested interest," Noorain Khan said. She also credits her sister, Azmat Khan, 20. "They're all probably the reason this amazing thing has happened to me," Noorain Khan said. "I feel this is less about me and more about the education I received, my family, my friends and my professors here at Rice," she said. Khan, who attended Forest Hills Central High School, said her interest in migration studies began when, as a teen, she developed after-school programming for Muslims in the Grand Rapids area. "Studying women's studies and political science and my interests are a culmination of all of that," she said. "This is not something I worked on just last year. This is engaging with people my entire life that shaped me into the person I am." Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes. The American students will join an international group of scholars selected from 13 other nations around the world. Approximately 85 scholars are selected each year. With the elections announced Sunday, 3,078 Americans have won Rhodes Scholarships, representing 307 colleges and universities. The value of the Rhodes Scholarship varies depending on the field of study. The total value averages about $40,000 per year.